2008 Reflection

Reasons for me to celebrate 2008:

January - Celebrated the 2008 New Year.
February - Celebrated my 28th birthday and Geoff began a new career as a Copy Editor with Balboa Insurance Co., a subsidiary of Bank of America.
March - My mom was notified that her company was laying off half of her office, including her position...unless, if she moved to their Houston office, she could not only keep her job, but get a promotion, pay increase and extended pension plan when she retires. She had two months to decide...
April - My grandma celebrated her 75th birthday.
May - My mom made the decision to move to Houston, TX and I took over her house and mortgage here in California.
June - My aunt, who is more like an older sister to me, announced she was pregnant with her third child.
July - Geoff's cousin moved here to California from her small town in Illinois, to hopefully improve her life. So far, she's doing great.
August - Watched and cheered for our country during the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.
September - Within a week, I submitted my resume, immediately interviewed, and was offered and accepted a new position as Director of Research with Whittier College. At least once in their life, everyone should say they are proud and impressed with themselves at something. This was it for me. This was a huge leap in my career. I went from being just an associate at the Symphony to director at a college.
October - Geoff celebrated his 30th birthday. As a surprise, I took him to play golf at Torrey Pines, home to the 2008 US Open and swim with dolphins at Sea World. Much to my happiness, he still can't get over that day.
November - Cast my vote in what was to be a historical presidential election. I'll always remember that day.
December - Had a wonderful time celebrating the holidays with family and friends, and said goodbye to 2008.

Polyvore

I came across this site today called Polyvore.com. You can create your own personal fashion looks! It's pretty fun, but quite addictive. There's so much to choose from and you can add however many things you want. You can either put your look together by a selection of images available to you, or upload your own images. Here are my creations:


-Top row: I would wear the outfit on the left to work. The outfit on the right, I would maybe wear to a dinner party. The colors are light enough for me to wear at a luncheon too.
-Bottom row: I normally wouldn't wear something this flashy, but with the right accesories, it's cute. I'd wear it to a holiday party, like a New Year's Eve party. The ice blue outfit in the middle, I would wear on a romantic date with Geoff. The black outfit on the right, I would wear if I was going to a symphony concert or theatre (as in musical theatre, play or opera). I actually have a dress very similar to this and wore it when I saw Wicked a few weeks ago. I didn't wear rhinestone accessories though. I wore gold hoops and a gold bracelet.

I'm officially hooked on this site.

SPT - "Hope"

This is what I do when I'm hoping for something. I take a moment, clear my head, and think about the very thing I'm hoping for most. As of this moment...I HOPE for the safety and unity of our country and those who are protecting it; I HOPE there are no more layoffs at Geoff's company; I HOPE my sister won't give up on her classes in college this semester; I HOPE my boss thinks I'm doing a good job; and I HOPE my family will continue to stay supportive, healthy and strong in the upcoming new year.

Weekend Update - Christmas Edition

I haven't updated my blog for several days, so I thought I would do one long weekend post and include Christmas.

December 23

Geoff and I went to see a stage version of "A Christmas Carol" at the Kodak Theatre. The play was starring Christopher Lloyd as Ebenezer Scrooge, John Goodman as the Ghost of Christmas Present, Jane Seymour as the Ghost of Christmas Past, Jane Leeves (from "Frasier") as Mrs. Cratchit and a special hologram appearance by Gene Wilder as Scrooge's former business partner, Jacob Marley. However, when we get to the Kodak Theatre, we find out that Jane Seymour was "feeling ill" and backed out of the play at the last minute. In addition to that, the director felt that the hologram of Gene Wilder didn't work for the play, so they replaced it with an unknown live actor (which ended up being a horrible mistake). I was bummed. I was looking forward to seeing Gene Wilder.

The first half of the play was, uh, a little bit boring. They had a few technical difficulties, but it was only the second night of the play though, so technical mistakes are no surprise. The second half was better and included John Goodman. He was funny, which is what the play was needing. All in all, it wasn't bad. At least, not as bad as "The Nutcracker" incident Geoff and I had to sit through two Christmases ago, where a male ballet dancer tripped on a prop while holding up a female dancer and ended up throwing her off stage right. It was all downhill from there.

December 24 - Christmas Eve
I woke up early and got some last-minute Christmas shopping done. I then went home and cleaned-up my house before Geoff came over for Christmas Eve dinner. A little while later, Geoff called me to say that he was pulling up to my house. He got out of work really early and came over early as a surprise, which was very sweet of him. While he put presents under the tree, I cooked our dinner. Everything tasted really good and Geoff ate two full plates.

After Geoff cleaned-up the kitchen and I put the food away, we put on some Christmas music, lit the fireplace and sat by the tree to open our presents to each other. We decided to open them on Christmas Eve since we'd be busy opening presents from our families the next day on Christmas. We let Gidget "open" her presents first, before opening ours. We had a good laugh watching her tear apart the wrapping paper and pull out her dog toys. Geoff wanted me to open my present from him last, so I let him open his first. Aside from his stocking and a few small gifts, I gave him an iPod Touch. He was so excited about it! I originally was going to get him an iPod Nano, but I decided to get the Touch since it can get wireless internet access and he can check his stocks during the day at work. I'm happy I went with my instinct!

For my present, Geoff handed me a pretty bag with a gold toile print (one of my favorite vintage designs). I removed the tissue paper and pulled out a small box from the bag:

I instantly recognized the famous little blue box with white ribbon. I smiled really big. Geoff was smiling too and said, "Open it!" Now, before I continue, let me say that I knew this wasn't an engagement ring. I've made it very clear to Geoff that I'm not ready to be married for another year or two and he feels the same way. With that being said, I did happen to already know what was in the box...

I've been wanting this beautiful, very simple, delicate flower pendant for the past FIVE YEARS, since the first day I saw it. I was so shocked and surprised that Geoff got this for me. He got a little teary when he saw how happy I was. He also said that his shopping experience at Tiffany's was very nice and that the sales people are really friendly and helpful.

After showering Geoff with kisses and hugs, we cleaned-up the wrapping paper mess and ate dessert. Then, I heated up some hot water and made hot apple cider for Geoff and hot chocolate with whipped cream and sprinkles for me. We took our drinks, snuggled on the couch with the dog and watched "Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer" (the claymation one, of course). After that, we watched a DVD of Mr. Bean's Christmas episode. After that, we took Gidget for a walk around my neighborhood and looked at the lights and decorations on everyone's houses. We were cold and tired after that, so we went to sleep. Well, I went to sleep. Geoff stayed up for a little bit and played with his new iPod Touch...


December 25 - Christmas
Geoff woke up early and headed over to his parents house. I slept in a little longer and then woke up to cook Christmas lunch for my family. A short while later, my dad and sister arrived. After eating and opening presents, I got ready and headed over to Geoff's parents' house.

When I got there, Geoff's grandma, aunt, uncle and two younger cousins were also there. Several minutes later, Erin and Erick arrived and we all sat down to eat. We then exchanged and opened our presents. Geoff's parents always have a stocking for me and this year they gave me some really neat stuff in it. As for presents, from Sean, I got a yoga mat I've been wanting that came with a DVD. Geoff's parents gave me a gorgeous dinnerware set from Target that I've had my eye on for a little while. They gave me a set of 8 dinner plates and 8 mugs and Erin and Erick gave me 8 matching salad plates. Erick's parents, who came later on, surprisingly also gave me a gift of more mugs that matched my dinnerware set. Since I already had the mugs, I later exchanged them for 8 matching bowls for a complete set. The dinnerware is so elegant. It's cream-colored with a design of small leaves, branches and a bird all in gold. It's hard to see the design in the picture below.

I can't wait to have a dinner party and use these dishes. It's gonna look so pretty!

After presents, Erin and Erick showed me the new car they just got. After a quick ride in it, everyone sat around and talked and ate dessert. Geoff's uncle, who is Jewish, brought a menorah and had his daughter light a candle while he explained the menorah. It was neat and really interesting to learn about it. Then, Geoff, Sean, Erin, Erick and I all decided to go see a movie. We saw "Bedtime Stories" with Adam Sandler. It was actually a pretty good movie.

December 26
The next morning, I had an early morning appointment to get my car serviced. I can't believe I've already driven 7500 miles on my brand new car!! It's all blamed on my work commute! Before I headed over to the Volvo dealership in Irvine, I stopped by Target to shop their after-Christmas sale. I usually do this to stock up on gift wrap, ornaments and lights for the next year. I got to Target around 7 am, right when they opened. There was a big crowd already waiting -all women too! Ha ha. I bought wrapping paper, blue twinkle lights, placemats to match my new dinnerware, a matted gold tiered server that also matches my dinnerware, and a bunch of other stuff. Everything was on sale and my total came out to around $60, which was pretty good. However, I had a few Target gift cards friends and family had given me for Christmas, so I actually ended up paying nothing out of my own pocket.

After dropping off my car and receiving a loaner that Volvo gives it's customers, I headed over to Geoff's office in Irvine to have lunch with him. After that, I went home for a few hours to take my dog out, do some laundry and take a nap. Little while later, I picked up my car and went to Geoff's, where we both relaxed for the rest of the evening.

December 27
Geoff left early in the morning to meet with and help train one of his old track athletes he coached at Warren, who is now in college. I went home to do some research work I wanted to catch up on while the college is on break. Later on, Geoff came over to my house and we went to the movie theatre to see "Marley & Me." It was good. I loved it. I cried towards the end -and I never cry at movies...but I love dogs, so I guess that's why it was an exception. Even Geoff got a little misty-eyed. I knew he was thinking about his old dog, Rusty. The only so-so thing about the movie was that it was hard for me to believe Jennifer Aniston and Owen Wilson playing parents of three kids later in the movie. That part wasn't really believable for me.

After the movie, we grabbed dinner and went to the park on top of Signal Hill, up the street from my house to watch the sunset. It was breezy that day, which meant the view was crystal clear. We could see Catalina Island from atop the hill. After some cuddle time, Geoff went home so that I could do some of my research work without being distracted.

December 28
True to my word in a previous post about my vacation, I decided to do absolutely nothing today. Nothing at all. And it felt really good. It was my lazy day. I couldn't do this everyday though. I'm an active person and I need to always be doing something. Occasionally though, I'll take a lazy day like today.

SPT - "Peace"

It's a rare moment that I really feel like I'm getting peace and quiet. On this day, while snuggled on my sofa with a soft fleece blanket, the only lights in the room coming from my Christmas trees, watching "White Christmas" on the TV and drinking hot chocolate, I felt it. I was at PEACE.

My PEACEful living room decorated for Christmas.

Staff Holiday Party

Last Wednesday, my department had our holiday party potluck and ornament exchange. It was a lot of fun and a nice time to spend with both my colleagues I see every work day and colleagues that work across campus that I don't see that often.

The party was at the college's alumni house, which is near the library and across the street from the Broadoaks elementary school (which is a part of Whittier College). It's a very pretty two-story craftsman style house. It was raining pretty hard that day, and I had to park in the Broadoaks parking lot and walk across the parking lot, across the street, in the rain while trying to balance holding my umbrella, my handbag, my boxed ornament gift and my casserole dish of my potluck item (I made a mac n' cheese dish I posted in a previous post). Needless to say, I didn't succeed at staying very dry. When I walked in, I was greeted by a warm and very welcoming fire in the alumni house fireplace.

The potluck was nice and everyone brought tasty dishes. After stuffing ourselves full, we played two games. One was a baby guessing game, where everyone brought in a picture of themselves during their baby or toddler years. The pictures were posted on a board and everyone had to guess who was who by writing it down on a piece of paper. It was a really fun game and some people were easier to guess than others. While the game was going on, my boss served drinks, including a yummy hot apple cider she mixed herself (I was surprised it had liquor in it!). After everyone was done guessing, all our scores were tallied up and it turned out that I won! I won by a landslide too. Out of 20, I got 17 and the next highest score was 13. My prize was a $10 gift card to The Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf.

The next game we played was Pictionary. We divided into two teams and everyone had to draw/guess either a Holiday movie or song that was blindly picked from a cup. When it was my turn, I picked "Miracle on 34th Street." Somehow, I drew enough good clues for my team to guess it in time. I drew a street with a street sign. That was it. And they guessed it. Talk about team work! We all had some good laughs and fun playing Pictionary. My team didn't win, but only because of a small technicality. I didn't mind though. The prize were bags of candy, and I'm not really big into the candy that were in the bags.

After the games, we did our ornament exchange. I received a cute tin snowman ornament. I never found out who it was from though. Anyhow, after all the fun was over, my boss told everyone to go home early that day. So far, that was the best day I've spent with my colleagues.

By the way, this is my baby picture I brought for people to guess me. I thought it would be appropriate to bring one of me at Christmas time. I think I'm either 2 or 3 years old here. It's a Polaroid picture and I don't have a scanner, so I took a picture of the picture.

How cute are my Mary Jane's??

Christmas Vacation

I love working for a college. You get so many incredible benefits, including a nice winter break for two weeks. Since finals are over, the students are on winter break and the college is closed during winter break, they give their staff that time off too. It's basically a "free" paid vacation without having to deduct from your vacation hours (which is great, because I need to save my vacation hours for my trip to Europe in late spring). Isn't that awesome?! I've made a list of things to do during my vacation. Here's what's on my agenda:

• Sleep in
• Finish Christmas shopping & wrapping presents
• Cook dinner on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day
• Sleep in some more
• Spend a whole day in my pajamas
• Clean my entire house
• Take a day trip to Solvang
• Sleep in even more
• Reorganize my closet
• Be lazy

As you can see, my schedule is jammed-packed with sleeping in. I'm going to be quite busy with that. I've already got a headstart, as I slept in this morning. Ahh...

Bargain Hunter

My grandma on my mom's side sent me $60 for Chirstmas, as well as my sister and cousins. She "orders" us grandchildren to spend it on something we want, and not something we need. Meaning, she wants us to buy something fun that's impulsive and impractical. Here's what I bought...

IMPULSIVE:

Old Navy is having a pretty good sale right now. A lot of their clothes are 50% off. I got everything in the picture for about $32. I got a pretty blue cotton dress (it's so comfortable!), a cream white thin-knitted sweater, a cute San Francisco t-shirt and a strapless black mini dress that I'll wear with my slim knee-length white shorts in the spring.

IMPRACTICAL:

I've been wanting a phone like this for several years now. For those of you who watch "Sex & the City," Carrie has one in her apartment (the series version of her apartment, not movie version) that usually sits on her nightstand, or a chair by her bed. I always loved that piece in her apartment. It's adorable and, up until now, I've only seen ones like it at an antique vintage fair that was by my house up in San Francisco. They were really expensive, the cheapest being $125. Well, I'm happy to say that I found the phone in the picture above on eBay for only $23. It's been restored and is in working condition. Like Carrie, I too will probably put it on my nightstand or on my desk at home.

I think my grandma would be pretty happy and impressed with all that I bought with my Christmas money. But, don't tell her that I "needed" clothes...

SPT - "Comfort"

A cup of tea can bring COMFORT to me.



The first thing I do when I walk into my office everyday at work, is make tea in my favorite San Francisco mug that my friend, Mary, gave to me. I usually drink Earl Grey or some type of green tea. In the picture, I'm drinking Lipton's green tea with mandarin orange. It's my new favorite tea. The sweet smell of it alone wakes me up. I like to sit in my chair, wrap myself in my chunky sweater (it's usually cold in my office) and relax for a moment with my cup of tea before I begin my work day. It makes a huge difference.

Christmas, Little by Little

I got my cute little tree today...

It's a 4 1/2 ft. Norwegian Fir, decorated with red, black, gold, silver and pearly white ornaments. The "A" and "B" ornaments are mine and my sister's initials. There's a few presents already under the tree for me and my parents, from my sister. I haven't been in the mood to wrap all mine yet.

My sister began putting lights up on the house, but soon got over it...

She put white lights around the garage, some of the bushes, and multi-colored lights along the walkway to the front door to the right. For just her doing it, it was a lot. It's not much to look at (especially compared to our neighbors!), but hopefully we'll get more lights on within this week.

Little by little, it's almost starting to feel like it's Christmas. Now if it would just snow...

Weekend Update

Friday
In the evening, I went to Whittier College's holiday party at the college president's house. The college owns a house up in the hills from the historic district and is specifically for the current college president to reside there with his/her family. It's a beautiful split-level, spanish-style home with an amazing panoramic view of L.A. County. The invitation was for staff and faculty, and it was nice to be able to meet people I hadn't had the chance to meet yet at the college. There was wine, tasty hors d'oeuvres and the prettiest dessert spread. I had a lot of fun spending time with my colleagues there.

Saturday
Geoff and I had one goal this day: to get Christmas shopping done and over with. Unfortunately, everyone else had the same goal.

We got a late start in the morning, mostly because we were tired and feeling lazy. When we finally got our butts out the door, we headed to "The District" in Irvine, a fairly new shopping area. We first hit up the Verizon store so that Geoff could get a new phone. His current phone is a piece of crap. After that, we were starving and had lunch at The Winery across the way.

After lunch, we stopped at Michaels (my new 2nd home) so that I could buy more beads for the wine charms I'm making. Normally, Geoff rushes me in this type of store, but he was very sweet that day, helping me pick out different colored beads and charm designs. He really likes my idea of making wine charms for gifts. I ended up selecting silver and aqua-colored beads with silver star charms and more red-colored beads with gold key charms.

After Michaels, we headed to South Coast Plaza. Now, if you've ever gone to South Coast during the holidays, you know that they barricade certain parts of the parking lots and parking structures for crowd-control purposes. This makes for one hellish shopping experience. I've shopped at South Coast many times during the holidays and, apparently, I've never learned my lesson. It took us 20 minutes to even get into a parking lot area, it was so crowded! Geoff and I started to get agitated, so we agreed to go across the street to Crystal Court (an extension of South Coast) to try shopping there. I went a back way and parked in a secret place near Macy's Home Store that hardly anyone knows about, that was perfectly clear (I was only the third car parked there).

After shopping, we went home. I was feeling domestic that night, so I made mac n' cheese with grilled chicken and roasted veggies for dinner, one of Geoff's favorites, and baked chocolate chip cookies.

Sunday
We slept in late! When I opened my eyes, the clock said 11:30 am. I hate sleeping in on Sundays. I feel like I wasted some of my last weekend day before heading into another long work week. I got up, made cinnamon rolls for Geoff and helped him decorate his Christmas tree. Shortly after, I left to go Christmas shopping and buy my Christmas tree and ornaments. I went to Target and the tree farm at the Long Beach/Seal Beach border. I went home and decorated it right away with the ornaments I bought.

After I was done decorating, I went to the movies with my friend, Melissa, to see "Four Christmases" with Vince Vaughn and Reese Witherspoon. It wasn't that good. Wait for DVD. On the way home, it started to rain, much to my happiness. Once home, I took Gidget for a brisk walk and then went straight to bed, heading into another work week. Blah.

Quite Charming

I decided that I wanted to hand-make holiday gifts for my colleagues this year. I've done it at other places I've worked at and everyone always seems to love it. When I worked at the SPCA, I made my three colleagues decorative pillows, using unique fabric prints. Another year, I gave them glass coasters that I painted my own designs on. When I worked at the Aquarium, I made everyone small magnents that had pictures I cut from magazines that matched everyone's personality. However, at the Symphony, I didn't have the time to make anything, so I just gave everyone pretty pens and candy. This year, since I have a new job at the college, I want to get back into the tradition of giving handmade gifts. So, after a brief calculation of how much time (and patience) I was willing to put into it, I decided to make wine charms. Turns out, this is going to be the easiest gift I've ever made! It's so simple. Here's what I did:


Materials* (all purchased at Michaels):
-Round nose or needle nose pliers
-Beads, color of your choice (I chose red and gold beads)
-Decorative charms (I chose gold leaves and flowers)
-Wire hoops that have a small loop at one end (they look like hoop earrings) in assorted sizes
*Everything listed can be found in the jewelry supply section at Michaels


Start off by placing the beads on your hoop, in whatever color order you want. At mid-point, add your charm, then add the rest of your beads.


When your beading comes to the end of your hoop, leave enough of a tail to bed upwards with your round-nose pliers. This will secure the beads in place and give a notch to hook your loop around.


Your finished product will look like this.


It looks really pretty with a glass of red or white wine, champagne, or even Martinelli's sparkling cider.


These are just 6 of the 8 that I worked on. The one with a missing charm is an experiment. I'm trying to see if some would work without one, so that I can spread out my charm supply. I decided it looks better if they all have a charm.

What's nice about this is that you can customize it however you want. If you want chunky beads, big charms, no charms, it's up to you. These red ones are for my colleague, Jamie. I'm making aqua-colored ones for my boss and other colors for other colleagues. For the ones who don't drink alcohol, I'll just make them cookies and a handmade card. Simple as that.

SPT - "Joy"

Bringing JOY to others...

(Salvation Army lady in front of a store in Whittier. Isn't she adorable? She's so happy. Her sign says, "Sharing is Caring"...isn't that the Care Bear motto??)

Every Christmas I like to make a donation to charitable organization. I encourage you all to do it too. Whether it's giving to a toy drive, food drive, sending money to an organization, volunteering your time, or even putting a dollar in a Salvation Army bucket, every little bit helps. To donate online, you can click the Charity Navigator link to the right of my page and search for your favorite cause.

Weekend Update

Saturday
I managed to sleep-in for a little bit, which felt nice. I got my car washed (even nicer) and had lunch with my dad. After lunch, my dad asked if I could take him to Target so he could pick up some stuff before I dropped him off at home. I never pass down a trip to Target, so I said yes. When we got there, my dad asked me what I wanted for Christmas. I told him a few things, including a Nintendo DS. He asked if I wanted it now, or wait until Christmas and unwrap it. I thought it was silly to wait for something I knew I was getting just so I could unwrap it, so I said I would take it now.

Me, with my early Christmas presents. I picked a blue DS.

After I dropped my dad off at his house, I went home and got ready to go to my friend Aranne's family's holiday party. As I mentioned in a previous post, Aranne is my childhood friend and I hadn't seen her since our high school graduation 10 years ago. We reconnected again through Facebook and I was excited to see her again in person. When I got to the party, there were a handful of other people there that I knew when I was younger too, mainly Aranne's family. Aranne looked exactly the same. I also met her nice husband, Dan. Geoff knows Aranne too, but wasn't able to come with me since he had to go to his company's holiday party. Aranne and I talked for a couple hours, catching up, and then I had to leave to meet Geoff at his party. As I was leaving, she took me over to a table for me to pick out a party gift. It had to be the best party gift I've ever been given (and I'm not just saying that because I know she might be reading this!). She and her sister-in-law made card organizers for everyone to take home. They're these small spiral notebooks that have a page and pocket inside for every month of the year. Every page also has a numbered list per month. The purpose is that you write the person's name by the number of the day of their birthday according to the corresponding month. And however many names you have written down for each month, you put the equal number of cards for those people. That way, when a person's birthday comes up, you just pull a card from the pocket and mail it to them. You can use it for anniversaries too. It's such a neat idea! Aranne and her sister-in-law made so many of them and they all had different prints on them. It was hard for me to choose one. I picked the one you see in the picture because it had bright, cheery colors. After receiving my gift, Aranne and I took pictures, hugged and said our goodbyes. It made me really happy to see her and I hope we'll get to visit again.


Me and Aranne. I tried to find a pic of us when we were in middle school or high school to put along side this, but my mom has them with all of our pictures in Houston (much to Aranne's relief, I'm guessing).


The cute card organizer Aranne made.

After I left, I headed out to Irvine to meet Geoff at his company's holiday party. It was almost over when I got there, so we didn't stay very long. On the way back to Geoff's, we stopped to get some munchies, went home and watched one of my favorite holiday movies, "Love Actually." Geoff had never seen it before and he really liked it.

Sunday
The morning was so busy, I'm not entirely sure what I did. I think I helped Geoff clean-up his place. Brad, Geoff and I went to grab lunch at Steelhead Brewery, where there was this really obnoxious guy there bossing around his poor pregnant wife. I wanted to smack him. After lunch and a quick trip to the store, we all got ready to see an evening show of "Wicked" in L.A. If you've never seen it, go now. It's leaving L.A. in five weeks. It's such a good musical, one of my favorites. The songs and plot are amazing. This was like my 4th time seeing it and this time was the best performance out of all the ones I saw.

"I think I'll try defying gravity..."

Oops, I Did It Again

I shouldn't say, "Oops" because I was perfectly coherent and well-aware of what I was doing. I went to Michaels...again. I couldn't help it! I went back to buy some more pretty $1 stationary for more friends and also ended up buying more stuff for my own stationary and Christmas collection. I tell ya, I sure don't feel Christmasy yet, but I sure am buying up all kinds of Christmasy stuff! My total cost this trip: $26. I can't pass up a good deal.

In addition to more stationary, I also bought some ornaments, ribbon and a wreath. With the exception of the wreath, everything was $1 or just over a dollar.

Okay, seriously, I can't buy anymore stuff! Well, I can buy more stuff, but the point is that I shouldn't. At least, not until I hang my wreath, find a place for my new stationary and package up and give away the stuff I bought for gifts.

Sheesh. Here I thought my spending habits were bad at Target...

Cut It Out

I finally had the time to get my haircut today at a professional salon. I had been just trimming my hair for the past 10 months now, going to a Supercuts near my old office in Costa Mesa. I was happy with just doing that, until "the bang incident."

The last time I got my haircut at Supercuts, I asked the woman to trim my bangs so that I could wear them down. "Not too short," I said. Well, she cut them short. Waaaayyyy too short -and they were too short with wet hair, which meant they'd be even shorter when they were dry. When she finished, I looked like a 10-year old Japanese girl. Even though I'm half-Japanese, I've never really looked it...until that day. I was really unhappy with it and refused to pay for the bang trim, which was $8. Without the bang trim, my total was $40. Supercuts is now a rip-off. When I complained about my bangs, the woman (in an indecipherable Chinese accent) goes, "Oh, you wait only three weeks. Grow back." I began pinning my bangs back (luckily pinned back bangs are in style) and had to keep them that way for TWO MONTHS. Grow back in three weeks, my ass!

Anyway, last weekend I decided my bangs were now long enough for them to be cut and reshaped. The ends of my hair were getting a little heavy too, so I decided to just get an all-over professional haircut. I went to Pacific Coast Style, off PCH and Loynes Dr. in Long Beach to see my dad's neighbor Nyk who had always cut my hair and I trusted to do a good job like she always does. When Nyk cuts and style-dries my hair, she only charges $40 for everything, including shampoo, conditioning AND a scalp and neck massage (which feels like utter bliss, especially if I have a headache when I see her). It's so cheap that I feel like I'm the one robbing her! Anywhere else and I'd easily be paying $65 or more. So why don't I always just go see Nyk, instead of going to Supercuts? Because Nyk isn't always available and, for a while, the only days I had available were days she had off. Well, today it finally worked out. Yippie! (I should probably add that Nyk only charges me $40 because my dad is her neighbor and she knows me. My dad always helps and looks after Nyk and Arlene and brings them stuff, like snacks and fruit)

Nyk is really cool and she's the same age as me. She and her partner, Arlene, live in the condo next to my dad in Long Beach. She has the most adorable voice and, if our schedules weren't so different, we'd probably be really good friends. When I went to get my haircut with her today I hadn't seen her in a while, so we chatted the whole time, like we usually do. Today, I discovered that Nyk designs her own accessories and sells them at craft fairs and events. She also mentioned that she has a blog. I promised I'd plug them both on my blog for her. If you have a moment, check them out at: Etsy::nyklectic:: and (nyk-lectic). If you go to the home page of the Etsy site, you can find more really cute handmade items for sale by other private vendors.
Nyk and I also talked about our favorite cupcake shop in Long Beach, called "Frosted." She told me they too have a blog about their shop: frosted frequency (I'm just plugging all kinds of people tonight). My favorite cupcake is their red velvet. Mmm!

I didn't do anything drastic to my hair. Just had it thinned out and added more layers. Although, since my hair is so thick, you can't really tell it's been thinned out. In two or three months I'm going back to Nyk so that she can cut my hair short...really short. I haven't had it really short in five years. We'll see how it turns out.

SPT - All You Need is "LOVE"

Last Christmas, he said, "I think I've been in LOVE with you since I was sixteen."

Michaels Christmas Sale

I just went shopping at Michaels Arts & Crafts store during my lunch break and found all these great deals on their Christmas stuff. Everything was on sale! I mostly shopped around the dollar bins and found some great stocking stuffers. I found neat stationary (including a "pet-sitter list"), pretty notecards, receipe cards, stickers, holiday cards (only $5 for 18 pk) and a holiday basket (only $3). The picture above is only 3/4 of what I bought. All together, I paid only $21 for everything. Not bad, huh?

SPT (She Photographs Tuesdays)

I saw this link on my friend Aranne's blog (she has all the fun stuff on her blog). It's a link to another blog of this woman, Lelly, who does this thing called "She Photographs Tuesdays." Every month, she gives a theme for every Tuesday of that month for people to photograph. For example, the theme for the month of December:

"Holiday Feng Shui"

December 2 is "love"

Dec. 9 is "joy"

Dec. 16 is "comfort"

Dec. 23 is "joy/peace"

Dec. 30 is "hope"

*Note: Lelly updated her SPT blog to say that she meant for Dec. 23 to be "peace," and not a repeat of "joy." However, if people already have their pics for "joy" they are encouraged to go ahead and post them.

Photography has always been one of my hobbies, so I thought I would have fun and participate in this. Keep a lookout for my Tuesday pictures!

Weekend Update - Thanksgiving Edition

Thursday - Thanksgiving Day
After having a rough couple days with family issues, I didn't feel much like cooking a Thanksgiving meal. So instead, my dad, sister and I ate at the restaurant my sister works at. I'm happy we did because it was really good. At first, I felt bad that we were eating at a restaurant for Thanksgiving, but it turns out that it's pretty common nowadays. My sister said that her restaurant was sold-out of reservations throughout the day. People want to spend more time with family and less time in the kitchen, which was perfect for me this year.

(Black) Friday
Geoff got up for work early around 5:30 am (poor thing had to work that day). Half an hour later I got up and went to Target for their Black Friday sales (for more detail, see "Black Friday" post below). After Target, I headed home to pack my stuff and pick up the rental car for my short trip to Sacramento with Geoff to visit his family. After picking up the car, I headed back to Irvine to pick-up Geoff. We stopped by the store to grab some drinks and munchies and then hit I-5 freeway to drive all the way up to Sacramento. The I-5 is a very very long freeway, but we made pretty good time. We actually drove to Gridley, a small town an hour north of Sacramento, where Geoff's Aunt Sandy and Uncle Barry and grandpa live. When we got to his aunt and uncle's house, we were greeted by his aunt and Sean, his brother, who drove up several days before us and was also staying there. Geoff's parents left a couple days before us and his sister, Erin, and her husband, Erick, left the day before us and were all staying at their grandpa's house nearby. We would've all left together, but, due to everyone's work schedules being different, we all had to take separate cars. Anyhow, after getting ourselves situated at aunt and uncle's house, we went to sleep right away.

Geoff driving us up to Sacramento.


Driving on the dreaded Grapevine.

Saturday
Geoff woke up at the butt-crack of dawn to play golf at a nearby course with his dad and uncle. A few hours later, I woke up and had breakfast with Geoff's aunt. After breakfast, I called Ginger (Geoff's mom) to see if they were awake and ask what the plan was for the day. She suggested all us girls go shopping and have lunch, which we did and enjoyed doing. When we got back, the guys had returned from golf and the entire family had dinner together. Geoff's grandpa came over and so did his cousin with her two little daughters. After dinner, the cousin and her kids left and Geoff and I went for a short walk. When we came back in the house, the whole family was setting up to play the dice game. I was hesitant to play because, the last time I played, everyone won a round except for me (and I hate losing). But, since the whole family of 10 people were playing, I didn't want to be left out of the fun and decided to play. I'm glad I did! We all had such a fun time and laughed so much! We played two rounds and Geoff's grandpa came in 1st both times. I came in 3rd on the first round and 2nd on the second round. I realized that the dice game is not exactly a game that requires a whole lot of strategy. It's a game of luck. After the game, Geoff's grandpa, parents, Erin and Erick went back to grandpa's to call it a night. However, Geoff, Sean, Sandy, Barry and I still had some energy, so we put on our swim suits and relaxed in the hot tub, looking at all the stars in the sky and chatting. When our skin started looking like raisins, we got out and all went to sleep.

Sunday
We got up early -too early, if you ask me- to load up the car and head over to Davis to meet Geoff's other Aunt Jackie, Uncle Tom and cousin for breakfast, and then begin our drive south back home. Geoff and Sean packed-up the cars, Erin and Erick met us over at the house so that we could all leave together, and we all said our goodbyes to Sandy and Barry. Then we all got in our cars and drove our small convoy over to Davis. We met everyone at Cafe Italia and had a nice breakfast with Jackie, Tom, and Geoff's cousin Tim (whose wife was sick and couldn't make it). Jackie and Tom talked about and showed me and Geoff their pictures from their recent trip to Machu Picchu, since they know we're planing a trip there. We had a short breakfast with them, but it was nice all the same. After more goodbyes with Jackie, Tom and Tim, we all gassed-up our cars and headed home, trying to keep our little convoy together. Well, that goal was soon shot down. We drove into so much fog and traffic that we all lost track of each other. Somehow, Geoff and I ended up being 45 minutes ahead of Sean and an hour and a half ahead of Erin and Erick. I think it's because we made only two short stops of 5-10 minutes each. Sean, Erin and Erick all made longer stops.

From L to R: Sean, Erin, Erick and Geoff deciding what route to take back.


Taking a picture of Erin in her car from my car while driving on the 99 fwy (Erick was hiding in the passenger seat). She's flashing the peace sign, not flipping me off like it may look...or is she?? =)

All along the freeway, in the central area of the state, there was traffic on both sides of the 5 freeway. The fog just made it worse. After what felt like the longest drive EVER, Geoff and I finally got home. We ate dinner, unpacked, watched the movie "Elf" and fell asleep immediately after.

The fog and traffic along the 5 freeway. We're going south, the other side is north.

I had a good time over the Thanksgiving weekend, but it went by way too fast. I'm very much looking forward to the college closing for winter break next month and I get my two-week Christmas vacation!

Black Friday

I decided to brave the Black Friday shopping crowd the day after Thanksgiving this year. I went to one of the most crowded stores you could go to: Target. My goal?: To buy a $14 crockpot that was on sale from $35. I've been telling people this for the past two weeks and everyone thought I was crazy, "Do you realize how many people are gonna be there??" I've never been one to be swayed by people, so I went to Target this morning around 6:15 am...and left at 6:50 am...with a cart full of stuff I bought all on sale. Oh yeah! In and out, no problem. I bought two crockpots (one for me, one for Geoff's mom), a toaster oven, a cupcake decorator for my little cousin, and other minor stuff I needed. When I walked in, it was quite crowded (especially around the electronics section). But I'm an experienced Black Friday shopper and knew that Target would have other registers open besides the regular ones up front. So I made my way over to the jewelry counter, but there was a line already forming. So I back-tracked to the Pharmacy (because I knew people paid for their purchases there along with their prescriptions) and, sure enough, they had two registers open with only ONE customer at each, taking any customer, not just Pharmacy pick-ups (Pharmacy wasn't even open yet). I stood in line and waited less than a minute. It was great.

Today, Geoff and I are driving up to Sacramento to visit his family. I'm looking forward to seeing them, but NOT looking forward to the drive. Ugh.

7 Days of Gratitude - #1

#1 Life
Above all else, I am truly thankful for everything and everyone who has a positive effect in my life. When I'm having an extremely crappy day, and I mean REAL crappy (like it has been for the past two days), I force myself to stop and try to enjoy the good things in my life. Someone always has it harder than you. When I remember that, suddenly all the crappy stuff becomes insignificant. I think of that Dave Chappelle skit, where he impersonates Prince. He says (excuse the language), "Enjoy yo'selves, bitches." I'll say it aloud to myself, and it makes me smile, because what he's saying is to have a good time, enjoy life. And that's exactly what I try do and be thankful for.

Rain...Finally!

It's raining pretty hard right now! I'm so happy. It's much-needed too, especially since the horrible fires almost two weeks ago. I love the rain. There's something about it that makes me feel cozy and romantic. Cuddled-up with your loved one under a blanket while the rain beats down outside. Or snuggled in bed with a good book while it's pouring out (which is what I'm about to do), it's so soothing . You couldn't ask for a better setting! I'm gonna go and enjoy me some of it right now...

7 Days of Gratitude - #2

#2 My Pets

I'm grateful for having the best dog ever. Gidget is awesome. When I wake up, I usually find her snuggled close to me, the tip of her tail wagging as soon as she sees my eyes open. When I take her out for walks, she’ll occasionally look up at me, as if she’s wondering if I’m having fun. She makes a really big deal about me coming home from work, greeting me at the door with a toy in her mouth (like she has a present for me), tail wagging and jumping up and down, making me happy after I've had a bad day. I adopted her when she was 5 months old. Now she’s almost 6 years old! And she still acts like a little puppy. The picture above is what she does when she's bored and wants my attention.

If you want a pet that's easy to care for, get a Beta fish. Indigo doesn't ask for much. He stays clean. He's self-sufficient. Easy to care for. Only needs to be fed a sprinkle of food once a day and tank cleaned maybe once a month. He rocks.

7 Days of Gratitude - #3

#3 Mac n' Cheese
I figured I'd put at least one silly thing on here. Mac n' cheese is a bowl full of happiness, really. I find I feel better after I've eaten some. Seriously, I do. I can see why they call it "comfort food." I'm forever grateful for the ingenious person who thought of this simple dish. Here's my favorite mac n' cheese receipe:

• 2 boxes Velveeta shells & cheese (or a similar store-bought brand)
• 1 lb. ground beef (or ground turkey, whichever you prefer)
• 1 16-oz. jar of salsa
• Cook pasta according to directions. Brown meat in a skillet. When finished, mix pasta, cheese sauce, cooked meat and jar of salsa all together. Serve.

OR, instead of ground beef and salsa, I'll sometimes add shredded rotisserie chicken and either steamed peas or broccoli to it. For you bacon lovers, mac n' cheese with crumbled bacon is good too.

Yum. Enjoy!

Weekend Update

Saturday
Got up early and took Gidget (my dog) for a short jog. Afterwards, I took a shower, cleaned up the bathroom, laid in bed and read "Twilight" for a few hours. Geoff called me to say that he was going to his parents' house to remove their faceboards and gutters and that his mom was cooking a pre-Thanksgiving dinner for the family and told me to come over. I got dressed and headed over to Downey. When I got there, I watched as Geoff and his dad tore down a few things outside of the house. I got bored of that, so I went inside to help his mom cook. Almost everything was made from scratch. It smelled so good, my tummy was grumbling the whole time. A little while later, Cassie came home and Erin and Erick came over, so we were finally able to eat. After dinner, we sat around and talked for a while, then Geoff went back to Irvine to hang out with his friends and, after talking some more, the rest of us went home.

Sunday
I had breakfast with my dad in the morning (at a place that had the BEST waffles) and then Geoff called to ask if I wanted to come over. He asked if I wanted him to take me to see "Twilight" at the movie theatre, but I told him it was okay, since I knew he didn't really want to see it (although it was very sweet of him to offer). Erin, Cassie and I are probably going to see it sometime early in the week. Geoff was so sure I was going to say yes, that he didn't have a back-up plan of what do to. So we decided to go to Best Buy and Target so that we could point out our Christmas lists to each other. While we were at Best Buy, Geoff bought a new DVD player so that we could watch "WALL•E" when we got home. If you haven't seen it yet, you should. It's such a good movie. The DVD extras have a couple of cool short films called "Presto" and "BURN•E." After "WALL•E," we watched TV for a little bit and then went to sleep, looking forward to the short work week.

7 Days of Gratitude - #4

#4 Charity

When I first starting working for a non-profit organization, I knew that was the industry I wanted my career to be in. Knowing that my job is directly making an impact for a good cause made me love the work I do. There's such gratification in it and I'm thankful that I get to do what I do. If you've ever volunteered for a place that you truly loved and felt like what you're doing was a contribution, that's how I feel when I come to work each day. Sure, there's times when I have rough work days. No matter what your job, everyone has those. However, what brings me back is thinking about the very people whose lives I'm helping to improve. And those people are worth the rough days.

7 Days of Gratitude - #5

#5 Books

I love reading. I read my first book when I was 3 years old (my mom has a cassette tape recording of me reading at that age). It was called, "Five Little Monkies." I still have a copy of it! To this day, I could spend an entire day snuggled in my chair or bed, getting lost in a good book. I especially love when I'm reading a book that I cannot put down. Books help you increase your vocabulary, your imagination and brain activity.

My goal in life is to write a children's book. I have one that's partially completed. I've got the title, characters and outline all put into place. I just need to fill in the gaps. I've put it off for almost 5 years now. I felt that I wasn't getting "inspired" enough to actually finish the story. Maybe finishing it will be my new year's resolution.

7 Days of Gratitude - #6

#6 Whittier College
I have been working for them for almost two months now and have come to not only appreciate where I work, but also the wonderful people I get to work with. It feels good to know that I have colleagues who fully trust, respect and believe in me and the work I do, to strengthen our department and the overall institution. I hope that this is the beginning of a long professional relationship with Whittier College. Cheers!

(Last) Weekend Update

I just realized that I didn't say what I did last weekend. It was quite busy! Here's a somewhat brief write-up of what happened:

Friday/Saturday
After work, went to FAFC in Santa Fe Springs to attend their Women’s Holiday Heart and Home mini-conference and brunch. I was invited to attend by Geoff’s mom (Ginger) and sister (Erin, who is a youth pastor at the church). It started with a woman guest speaker giving an evening lecture on Friday night and continued the following morning with a hosted brunch and two additional morning lectures, given by the same guest speaker. I went to this event last year, which they called a women's holiday tea. Like last year, Ginger and Erin hosted a table again. It turned out very pretty...

To host a table, you're responsible for decorating the entire table, provide dinnerware, dessert, and a party favor for your guests to take home. This is always my favorite part of the event because you get to see what everyone else came up with for their tables...



(This one above had a real bird in it)


These were just a few of the many tables there.

Though the brunch was wonderful, the guest speaker was not. She spoke on 3 occasions, Friday night, during the Saturday morning brunch, and again after the brunch. She gave very “messy” lectures. It was all over the place. She would have her nose in her Bible, reading an excerpt in a monotonous tone, then all of a sudden be all over the stage, animately talking about random things. It was like ADD, but on crack. I mostly tuned her out, except for one part where she said something that actually offended me (I won't go into it though).

After the brunch and lectures were over, Ginger, Cassie and I went outside and thought it smelled like fire. We looked up at the sky and saw there was smoke nearby. We thought it was just a house or building that caught on fire. Turns out, it was bigger than that. Much bigger. We went back to Erin's apartment and turned on the TV to see that excessive fires had broken out in Yorba Linda, Corona and Brea. There was thick smoke covering the sky and there was a strong wind that day, which made it worse. The next time I went outside, I could see the smoke blowing it's way over to Long Beach.

Despite the smoky air, Cassie and I went shopping at Lakewood Mall so Cassie could buy some Uggs. We also went to Cost Plus World Market. I love that store. They have such cool stuff there. When we got to Lakewood, the sky was so dark that it looked like it was going to rain. Well, technically, it was raining -raining ashes. It was gross. We didn't stay out long and, after I dropped Cassie off, I went home to change out of my smoky clothes, take a shower and clean my house.

Sunday
I went over to Geoff's in the morning and we originally we going to try to go to Disneyland. But, because the air quality was horrible from the fires, we cancelled. So instead, we decided to save Disneyland for Christmas and ended up spending the day in Irvine, near Geoff's house and Costa Mesa, since the air was clean and clear in those areas.

We went to several stores, including Borders, where Geoff bought me "Twilight" to read. After shopping, we went to see a movie. We ended up seeing "Quantum of Solace" (James Bond). It was okay. I liked "Casino Royale" better. After the movie, we grabbed Chinese for dinner and, after a phone call to see if the coast was clear for Geoff to come home, we went back to Geoff's to eat and play Guitar Hero.

And that was my weekend.

7 Days of Gratitude - #7

My longtime friend, Aranne, posted this on her blog today. She got it from a blog of a friend of hers. What better way to spread gratitude and appreciation? Over the next 7 days, from now until Thanksgiving, I will be posting things that I'm grateful for. If you have a blog, I encourage you to do the same thing. It'll make you feel good. Here's #7 on my list...


#7 The Internet
Without the internet, I wouldn’t have been able to reconnect with old friends. Without the internet, how could I find a broad range of resources to reference my questions or problems and find the answers? Without the internet, I couldn't do my job. And lastly, without the internet, Geoff would never have been able to find me again.

Thank you world wide web!

Lighten-Up

Since my last post was a bit of a downer, I thought I'd post something funny to brighten the mood a little. Yesterday, I was on the phone with my mom, asking her for her address so that I could send her something in the mail (I still don't have her Houston address memorized). I had no idea my simple question for her address would open up a can of worms. Here's how our conversation went:

Mom: "...Gosling Rd., Woodlands, TX"
Me: "Gosling? Like a baby goose?"
My mom, a senior executive for the biggest international import/export corporation, asks: "Oh, is that what that is?!"
Me: (rolling my eyes) "Yes, mom."
Mom: "Then what is a chick?"
Me: (shaking my head) "It's a baby chicken."
Mom: "Oh. Well, I knew that."
Me: "Mm-hmm."
Mom: "What's a baby duck?"
Me: "Are you serious? It's a duckling."
Mom: "Oh, I knew that too."
Me: "Are we done now?"
Mom: "Wait, one more...what's a baby swan?"
Me: "I think it's called a cygnet."
Mom: "Okay, you can't expect me to know that. How the heck do you know?"
Me: "I remember from when I took zoology in college."
Mom: "Really? Well I'm glad to know my money went to good use."
Me: "Um...okay. Because I knew what a baby swan was called?"
Mom: "Not everyone knows that, Amy!"
Me: "Okay. Sheesh."

Apparently, knowing the technical term for a baby swan is a pretty big deal. Remember that, people.

Missouri Loves Company...Just Not Mine

Okay, so here it is. The reason why I wasn't looking forward to going to Missouri (and now don't have to and I'm surprisingly upset by it). It's a very long story, but I have a lot to say...

My dad, sister and I were going to Missouri next week to see and meet my dad's mother. I say "meet" because I've never met this woman my entire life and neither has my sister. My dad had a very harsh relationship with his mom and, when he was 17, left home to live with his aunt (his dad's sister) and soon after joined the Army when he turned 18. From the moment he left home, he never saw or spoke to his mother ever again.

Flash back to when my parents were married and I was about 4 years old...

My mom wrote a letter to my dad's mother, telling her that even though she hasn't seen or spoken to my dad in several years, she wanted her to know that he was married now and that they have a daughter (me). My mom told her that she understands if she doesn't want to communicate with my dad, but that she would like it very much if she would have a familial relationship with me since she was my grandmother. My mom enclosed a picture of me and mailed the letter. About a month later she received a letter back from my dad's mother. She had written my mom a very odd letter, basically saying that my mom didn't understand and that she wasn't in a position to open that door again and didn't really want anything to do with my dad, including me. Along with the letter she wrote to my mom, she returned the picture of me because she didn't want it. My mom didn't tell me this story until I was 15 years old. At that time, I didn't really care. It didn't bother me. As far as I was concerned, I already had a grandma on my dad's side (my grandpa's 3rd wife) and she was the only grandma I'd ever known since I was born. I should note here, however, that my dad isn't close to her or my grandpa either (I know, he has issues). However, I have a very close bond my grandpa. :)

Fast forward to last year, July 2007...

After Geoff and I returned from our trip to Alaska, my mom told me that, after 38 years, my dad finally spoke to his mother. They connected through my dad's half-brother (who hadn't seen my dad since he was 10 years old). I called my dad to find out what happened and I could hear in his voice how excited and happy he was. This made me happy too. He said that she asked about me and wanted to know about my sister. At this point, it hit me. Up until now, she never knew my sister even existed. For some reason, this really pissed me off. I tend to get defensive when somebody insults my sister (despite the fact that I do it all the time), but I felt this was beyond insulting. This triggered a whole bunch of other bitterness that I was shocked I had in me. I was angry for her not knowing about my sister, I was angry that it was my dad who had to call her and not the other way around, and I was angry that she sent my picture back that my mom sent her when I was 4. I kept all this inside of course, not wanting to ruin my dad's happiness and reconciled family.

For several months after, my dad would always update me and my sister on the phone calls he would have with his mother, his sister (who he hasn't seen for about 25 years) and his half-brother. Then, this past January, he tells us that his mother and his sister are coming out to California to visit and to not make any plans the third weekend of February. He goes on to say that he's going to have a limo pick them up from the airport and that we were all going to get dressed up and celebrate by eating at some expensive restaurant in L.A. My sister and I expressed that we would feel a little awkward, but that we would go for him. My dad hasn't had a family-family for many years, and I know how happy this was going to make him. He and my mom divoriced when I was 12 and, since then, my sister and I had been the only family he had.

February rolled around and soon it was the third week. Three days before my dad's mother and sister were to arrive, I get a phone call from my dad telling me that they weren't going to be able to make it out afterall because "other things came up." I could hear the disappointment in my dad's voice and this made me even more angry at his mother (FYI, I don't feel right calling her my "grandmother"). Deep down inside, I knew they weren't going to come. Really, I knew. But what made me angry was how hopeful my dad sounded. My dad isn't one to give anybody benefit of the doubt, including his own children. However, he willingly and freely gave it to his mother when she cancelled her visit. Willingly. I knew that was going to be a mistake.

Two months later, my dad ended up flying out to Missouri to see his family for the first time after 38 years. He asked my sister and I to go with him, but I told him that it would be better to have his moment first and then my sister and I would eventually go after he got his stuff with them out of the way. When he returned from his trip, he was so happy and didn't stop talking about it for three weeks. It was weird to see my dad act so giddy. I'm so used to him being the strict, sometimes pessimistic, military man. Nonetheless, it was a nice change to see in him.

Fast forward to September (two months ago)...

My dad tells my sister and I that he wants the three of us to fly out to Missouri for Thanksgiving. He told us to get the time off because he was buying our tickets in the next couple weeks. I hesitated and my sister argued not to, but we gave in. (A funny side note: my dad initially got mad that we didn't want to go. He said, "What the hell? You know, when your mother wanted you guys to go to Japan to see her relatives, you couldn't wait to go, you were so damn excited." My response was, "You have to be joking. We weren't excited because we were seeing relatives...we were excited because it was JAPAN! I'm sorry we're not peeing our pants over Kansas City, Missouri.")

Every week since then, my dad kept saying that he was going to buy the tickets, but kept putting it off. At one point, I was pretty sure we weren't going at all. My dad has a nasty habit of saying he'll do something and won't follow through with it. Then, about a month ago in October, my dad calls to tell me that he bought the tickets and will give me a copy of the flight itinerary. I was surprised and a little disgruntled. Surprised because he did buy the tickets, but disgruntled because I didn't really feel like going. I was starting to get bitter about the fact that, after more than a year of communicating with my dad, his mother still hadn't tried to contact me or my sister, either by phone, letter or email. Not even a card, and by this time Christmas, my birthday and my sister's birthday had all passed -perfect occasions to send at least a card or some form of communication (let me reiterate that I said "card," not "present" like some people think I mean).

Between the time my dad had first visited back in April, until recently, he would always talk about how his mother is going to be spoiling my sister and I when we visit for Thanksgiving. "She's going to be buying you guys a lot of stuff, just so you know" or "She's probably going to buy a Cadillac Escalade just so she can fit all of us in the same car to go shopping." He'd say odd things like that. It sounded weird to me. I didn't take him seriously and neither did my sister. It just sounded like a bunch of crap. My sister and I felt that -even though we're never ones to turn down a free shopping excursion- if this was her way of making things up to us, she was going about it the wrong way.

Now fast forward to today, this morning...

Every other day, my dad kept going over our plans of what we're going to be doing in Missouri. He also kept asking my sister and I if we were getting excited as the day of our departure neared. And he also kept asking us to recite our flight schedule to him by memory. He did this because he was excited and was looking forward to all of us being together. Come to think of it, this was really going to be the first trip that my dad, sister and I were taking all together. Over the last couple weeks, my sister and I began buying winter clothes, since it's cold there right now, and my sister went out and bought new luggage, since she had none of her own. We were making a mental packing list. Good thing we hadn't actually packed yet...

This morning, I get a call from my dad around 6:30 am. I was still half-asleep, so I didn't answer the phone, but could hear the jingle my phone played when I had a new voicemail. An hour later, I got up, took a shower and got ready for work. I went into my sister's room to ask her something and we ended up talking about our trip next week. She showed me her new travel bag and, after talking a little more about our trip, we were kind of getting a teeny bit excited about going. I went back to my room to dry my hair. After I finished drying it, my sister yelled down the hall for me to come to her room. When I walked in, she had her cell phone pressed to her chest. She said, "Dad's on the phone and wants to talk to you. We're not going to Missouri." I took the phone and listened as my dad said that his mother was "feeling ill" and that she wouldn't be able to come up to his sister's house to be with us for Thanksgiving. You see, we were going to stay at my dad's sister's house in Kansas City. Apparently, my dad's mother (and I didn't know it until that moment) lives a 7-hour car drive away. She was supppose to drive up and stay at his sister's house with us too while we were there. My dad continued on to tell me that he didn't want to be spending the majority of our trip in the car, driving 7 hours back and forth between his mother, his sister and his half-brother's houses. He said that our airline tickets would be good for about a year and that we could try going again in the Spring. I said it was alright, not to worry about it and that we'll go another time. My sister argued that we should still go so that we could pull a "in your face" to my dad's mother. She said that if we went, we would be showing her that we didn't care if we saw her or not. I told my sister I didn't want to waste a plane ticket on feeling spiteful.

After a few minutes, the feeling I was having took me by surprise. Out of all things, I was feeling hurt. At first I thought my feelings were hurt, but that wasn't it. It was that I knew my dad's feelings were hurt and this hurt me and immensely pissed me off. How could this woman do this again? This is the second time now. Saying that she wasn't feeling good was a poor excuse. She somehow knows that she's not going to be feeling good later in the next week too?? Come on. Bottom line: she's uncomfortable meeting us and doesn't really care to. It doesn't matter to me; I could care less. However, she keeps jerking my dad around and, frankly, nobody pulls shit like that on my dad. She has caused nothing but disappointment for my dad, heartache for me, and inconvenience for my sister. My sister had to practically beg the restaurant she works at to give her the time off to fly out there for Thanksgiving. Now, she's missing out on the busiest money-making days and all for absolutely nothing. What's even more pathetic is that I know that my dad's mother won't ever bother to pick up the phone to call us and apologize for our trip not working out. I'm sorry to say that all I know about this woman is that she's selfish.

I'm sure some of you are asking, "Why don't YOU call her, Amy??" My answer is that I've already tried to contact her indirectly through my mom. Sure, I was only 4 at the time, but it was put out there that she had a granddaughter that would love to meet her...but she rejected it. From then, the ball was always in her court. I can't force someone to talk to me who made it perfectly clear that they didn't want to -and, to me, still doesn't want to. What gets me though is my dad's happiness. All he wants is for all of us to be together, in the same place, and do family stuff. But, for some ignorant reason, she won't let it happen. Something about me and my sister, she just doesn't care to know us right now. If it weren't for my dad, I would easily just brush her off.

Let me say that I have good instinct about people. Everyone in my family tells me this. I read people very easily, which is why I'm good at the type of work I do. Back in February, when my dad's mother was supposed to visit for the very first time and cancelled at the last minute, I knew she would be like this. I knew that whatever crap my dad was saying about her wanting to "spoil" me and my sister was either a flat-out lie she was telling my dad, or my dad was making it up to cover-up for her non-enthusiasm of wanting to meet us. I knew from almost the beginning that she has no interest in meeting us. If she was that eager, it would've happened already. After my dad delivered the news to me this morning, I really had to bite my tongue to keep from saying, "I told you so." Yes, I have good instinct about people. However, for my dad's sake, I wish I was wrong this time.

So now what am I doing for Thanksgiving, you ask? Well, I'm going to cook Thanksgiving dinner for me, my dad and my sister. After dinner we'll probably go see a movie. The next day we'll go shopping to find some "Black Friday" deals. Then over the weekend, I'll probably be driving up to Sacramento with Geoff to visit his extended family. If I play my cards right, I might get Geoff to stop off in San Francisco for a little while to visit my once home.

As of right now, I'm almost over my hurt and anger and I'm starting to feel a little relieved we're not going to Missouri anymore. Hopefully, my dad is feeling the same way.